Newly revealed scans from a (somewhat) exclusive Japanese magazine show us exactly what Pokemon Black and White shall look like. Well, the overworld, anyway.

So in the May issue of the Official Xbox Magazine there is a load of information about the new Ghost Recon installment: Future Soldier. Here is the list of inclusions revealed by the magazine:

• The game will feature split-screen cooperative play, but it’s yet to be determined if it will be two or four players.
• Soldiers in Future Soldier benefit from “load-bearing leg braces that enable them to move swiftly” even as they’re covered in a ton of heavy technology.
• Gamers can sprint to cover, slide-tackle enemies, and hurdle low obstacles thanks to their new exoskeleton.
• A first for the series, the soldiers will have close-combat takedowns at their disposal.  The takedowns are based on various forms of martial arts.
• The team is divided into four members, each with a different class.  The classes are: Commando, Engineer, Sniper, and Recon.
• Commando is very similar to a standard soldier, using a rifle with multiple components and shoulder mounted rocket launcher.  Engineer has loadouts including a UAV drone which can be steered by the soldier.  Sniper features the main advantage of identifying targets.  Recon features the optical camo (invisible cloak), and will be what most gamers want to play as.  However, when not cloaked, you’ll be quite distinguishable on the battlefield.
• The game begins with “the Russian president being kidnapped by extremists, and instead of breaking out the popcorn for a cutscene, you’ll be in the shoes of one of his bodyguards.  Regardless of how well you may perform during this sequence, you won’t be successful, and the capture of the Russian leader is the flashpoint that kicks off what becomes a truly international campaign.”
• The game will feature quite a few different settings for the game, being much removed from the bland Mexico settings fans were used to.
• Teammate A.I. has been much improved.  Your A.I. partners will move like they have “ten to twelve years of military training”.  Instead of running in front of you, they’re more prone to follow like squadmates should.
• The partners are said to cover your flank and angles you can’t always get to when you move forward.
• With the tap of a button, you can follow your teammate automatically.  Doing this technique will allow you to focus on enemy fire, and keep an eye on your teammates back as you continue forward.  All four players can actually link up at once as well.
• The link-up feature is available in multiplayer too.  Stand close enough to a cloaked squadmate in multiplayer, and you’ll be cloaked.  Future Soldier is aiming to encourage teamwork over everything else.
• The co-op is four players, and completely drop-in/drop-out co-op for the campaign mode.  Multiplayer is said to be 8vs8, and contains classic modes such as capture-the-flag and domination.
• The Persistent Elite Creation system from Rainbow Six Vegas 2 will make its way into the title.  Meaning, your items in the campaign will be synchronized with those items you use in multiplayer along with your character.

Nothing too earth shattering here. The main issue I find is that the concept of the future has largely been identified as not laser wielding robots. Rather, I think the Ghost Recon series is reflecting the subtle changes our armed services will find over the next 75-100 years: cloaking, exoksekeletons, and whatnot. The problem is that, unless artfully done, this may lead to more run-of-the-mill gameplay.

Also, what is that locking on squad mates thing? Like, enable Universal Studios ride mode? I don’t know about that. It sounds like they’re taking a page from Bad Company 2 otherwise. The real deal has yet to be seen, however…

On August 19 in Cologne Germany, thousands will gather for Europe’s GamesCom conference in hopes of becoming Germany’s leading trade show for interactive gaming and entertainment. This debut event hopes to attract the entire industry, as well as anyone interested in video games or computers.

Now I’ve just recently stumbled upon Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story and I thought I would talk about it a little here. We’ve all played Mario here at Pixel Well, in all his four-hundred plus incarnations (and some even dared to watch the live-action movie), and so maybe I feel like I have some “cred” in the way of Mario commentary. Syndic and I have watched Mario turn from side scrolling to 3d platformer to RPG to sunshine (yeah, that one) and it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that Mario is analogous to a layer of bedrock: documenting the change in the course of video games since the dawn of digital interaction….

The aptly named Knights in the Nightmare-just what every fan of ludicrously complex-layered games has dreamt of. This frolicking fiasco, released for the Nintendo DS, uses a stylus cursor as the main character, but it is a tactical RPG with shooter elements and several different, separate aspects to battle that modify how things occur.
(Read more after the video)

Hey Guys,

Happy Friday indeed. I don’t know if this is on anyone else radar, but I just looked into Sturmovik again after having seen some early trailers awhile back. Vicis and I have been pretty stoked about this game since it could offer the most compelling WWII aircraft simulation available. Its designed by Oleg Maddox, one of the top flight simulation developers. As such, its going to work more like a flight-sim with guns than a game like Crimson Skies. Despite the learning curve I’m really excited to get my hands on it. The frustration will be worth it so as long as it holds itself to some standard. Not to say other WWII aircraft games aren’t up to par, but even the graphics of Sturmovik blow my mind. I think I’m going to head over to Xbox Live and download the demo, which was just released, and give you guys an update of how it plays. Heres a gameplay montage to tide you over.

Birds of Prey is developed by 1C Company, and is coming out for the PSP, DS, PS3, and Xbox 360.